Nest Egg - Nothingness Is Not A Curse (2018)

Like most “Krautrock“, this album should be listened to in a darkened room, ideally with headphones, or really good quality speakers and a desire to lose yourself completely in the music. Either that or live at a small gig with your eyes partly closed and the remains of a good quality craft beer grasped in between your fingers. This emersive, mind-expanding music.

Nest Egg are a three-piece from Asheville, North Carolina, USA, comprising Harvey Leisure (guitar/vocals), Ross Gentry (bass/keys) and Thom Nguyen (drums). They formed back in 2011, and Nothingness Is Not A Curse is their second album, following on from 2015’s debut album Respectable.

The tracks on this album have been developed over a couple of years and it shows. Each of the 6 pieces are well honed, driving rhythms, stripped down to their basic drum and bass components and then overlayed with phased fuzzy guitars, keyboards and vocals. It’s as much about what they leave out as put in that sets this album apart.

Reminiscent of Neu!‘s first album, the opening track, DMTIV, fades in, as if you’d just entered a gig was already underway. You slowly make you way towards the stage. The band and the audience gently swaying, the beat leading you on. You are drawn in.

Metronome-like beats propel this album relentlessly forward. There is no going back until the performance is over.

Long Night Outside is the first track to have been released from the album (at Bandcamp) and it’s immediacy is the reason. This track will haunt your day until you play it again, and again.

The title track Nothingness Is Not A Curse, breaks with the rhythm of the rest of the album and slows down, but as it’s the longest track at over 10 minutes, it’s a fitting end to the emmersion.

In my experience, three-piece bands always seem to punch above their own weight and Nest Egg are no exception. Currently on tour is the US, this album comes out on London-label Fuzz Club, so here’s hoping they will be playing the UK soon.

Track List:
01. DMTIV
02. Print-Process-Repeat
03. Denied Doctrine
04. Long Night Outside
05. Cognitive Dissonance
06. Nothingness Is Not A Curse

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